Hands of Stone

Director: Jonathan Jakubowicz Jonathan Jakubowicz

Overview

This biopic about boxing legend Roberto Duran (Edgar Ramirez) follows his rise from a two-fisted street urchin in Panama to a gifted amateur known for Round 1 knockouts. Along the way he gains fame, riches and the love of Felicidad (Ana de Armas), but a chance meeting with boxing coach Ray Arcel (Robert De Niro) takes his fighting skills to a level where he can defeat American champion Sugar Ray Leonard (Usher Raymond). The lessons Arcel teaches his prot?g? about psychological cleverness in and out of the ring carries Duran through the darkest part of his career, when the notorious "No m?s" rematch against Leonard threatens to derail his entire legacy.

Product Details

Release Date:	11/22/2016
UPC:	0013132640365
Original Release:	2016
Rating:	R
Source:	LIONSGATE - 600000-AEC LGE
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:51:00
Sales rank:	44,569

Special Features

Roberto Durán: a boxing legend. a nation's pride ; Deleted scenes; "Champions" lyric video feat. Usher; "Champions" lyric video feat. Ruben Blades

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Edgar Ramírez	Roberto Durán
Robert De Niro	Ray Arcel,Adele
Usher	Sugar Ray Leonard(as Usher Raymond IV)
Rubén Blades	Carlos Eleta
Ana de Armas	Felicidad Iglesias
Pedro Perez	Plomo
Óscar Jaenada	Chaflan
John Turturro	Frankie Carbo
Ellen Barkin	Stephanie Arcel
Jurnee Smollett-Bell	Juanita Leonard
Yancey Arias	Benny Huertas
Ilza Rosario	Clara Samaniego
Anthony Molinari	Marine Molinari
Rick Avery	Gil Clancey
Robb Skyler	Howard Cosell
Joe Urla	Angelo Dundee
Eliud Kauffman	Margarito Duran
Khalid Ghajji	Roger Leonard
John Duddy	Ken Buchanan
Israel Isaac Duffus	Davey Moore
Aaron Zebede	Eugenio Iglesias
Janelle Davidson	Sharon Leonard
Leo Wiznitzer	Head Commisioner
Roberto Chavo Duran	Toti(as Roberto 'Chavo' Durán)
Reg Cathey	Don King
David Arosemena	Kid Duran
Angelo Milli	Composer

Technical Credits

Jonathan Jakubowicz

Jonathan Jakubowicz	Screenwriter,Director,Producer,Producer
Ricardo Del Rio	Executive Producer
Robin Duran	Executive Producer
George Edde	Executive Producer
David Glasser	Executive Producer
Max A. Keller	Executive Producer,Executive Producer
Kamel Krifa	Executive Producer
Jim Seibel	Executive Producer
Carlos Garcia de Paredes	Producer
Jay Weisleder	Producer,Executive Producer
Ben Silverman	Executive Producer
Bill Johnson	Executive Producer

Editorial Reviews

Boxing trainer Ray Arcel (Robert De Niro) is waiting patiently in the locker room at Madison Square Garden. He's just watched new talent Roberto Durán (Edgar Ramírez) pummel Benny Huertas to the mat in one round, and he knows that kind of raw animal nerve in a fighter isn't a common occurrence. When the champ reappears with a celebratory tray of ice cream, Arcel tells him what he sees: a street-honed brawler who's gotten dangerously reliant on expecting to knock an opponent out in the first 20 seconds, all skill and no strategy, vulnerable to any foe able to outthink him. He offers his services as a coach for free. Durán glares at this American with suspicion. No "Yanqui" ever did him any favors when he was a starving street urchin in U.S.-occupied Panama. Can this man be different? The relationship between Durán and his trainer/mentor/father figure Arcel shapes the heart of the bilingual biopic Hands of Stone, even though the movie's full scope is Durán's rise and fall and rise again in his career prime, including his vitriolic rivalry with Sugar Ray Leonard (Usher Raymond) and their notorious "No más" bout. Along the way he woos his wife Felicidad (the carnally angelic Cuban actress Ana de Armas), suffers the usual drunken personal disgrace and redeems himself, hitting all the usual Joseph Campbell-ian moments required by a sports pic. But just because this film follows the hero's journey doesn't mean it isn't heroic. Writer/director Jonathan Jakubowicz threads a second, personal battle beneath Durán's flurry of punches, tracing how a combative braggadocio slowly comes to terms with his long-repressed fear of the godlike Americans -- including his own absent father -- who ground him into the dirt with their imperialist thumbs as a child. This personal touch raises the lively athletic melodrama out of maudlin telenovela territory, but it's still full of Latin fire, with well-choreographed, visceral boxing-match scenes, riotous 1970s décor and costumes, and muy caliente love scenes. Hands of Stone may not be an uncontested knockout like De Niro's fundamental boxing film Raging Bull (and what movie is?), but as a romp for sports fans, it's a unanimous win.